Swim Team:

You have to get out of the house, Felix. Carter had said.

You need something other than penguins in your life. Sadie had said.

Swimming will be good for you. It's healthy. Those were Cleo's words.

It'll be fun! Walt.

But I don't wanna. That's what Felix had said.

Not that it mattered, he thought as he eyed the big tiled pool, the shivering children around him, and the two swim instructors. A grown woman and teenage boy.

"All right," the woman started. "So… my name is Grace, and this here is my partner Percy. We will be teaching you all kinds of fun ways to swim! How about we all introduce ourselves?"

No one said anything.

"No?" She looked around. "No one?"

"I'm Percy," Percy broke the silence. "I like horses and blue food."

His voice echoed through the room, eventually fading off. Then silence again.

"I'm Felix, and I already know how to swim." Felix spoke up.

"That's very good to know, Felix." Grace nodded, then turned to the group again. "And how many of you know how to swim?"

About half of the hands went up. "That's very good! Well, if we're not going to introduce ourselves then let's break into two groups. Percy will be showing those of you who can swim lots of new and fun strokes. And I will be teaching those of you who can't swim how to do so." Grace looked around. "Does that sound like a good plan?"

There were no sounds of agreement, but no one protested either, so they all sluggishly headed to different ends of the pool.

Felix faced his instructor.

Percy faced his class.

"Well, you sure are a talkative lot." Percy said, his smile faltering. "Let's get in, shall we?"

Felix eyed the water. He hated this class already.

The Movies:

Cleo checked her watch. Five minutes until the film started, and she'd already eaten half her popcorn. And she had to pee. Great.

She sighed.

Do I have enough time to find a restroom? Will they even let me back in if I leave? Better to play it safe, I'll just wait things out. This movie is only about an hour long anyways. And it's about architectural feats. I'll be engrossed in no time. I won't even notice my need to go or my lack of popcorn.

So, after that long chain of thought, Cleo settled back into her seat and waited for the movie to start.

Three more minutes.

That's when a pretty blonde girl dragged her boyfriend into the theater, arguing with him in loud whispers.

"Annabeth, all I'm saying is that we've seen this movie before." The boy shrugged. "So, why not go and see something else?"

She snorted. "You've fallen asleep in this movie before. And then I couldn't hear over your snores."

The theater wasn't crowded, by any means, so they had their choice of seats. She led him to the middle row.

"The middle?" He sounded disappointed. "Why not the back?"

"Because you fall asleep when we go to the back, apparently."

"Yeah, but… you don't want to sit in the back? It's the back. And there are spots open." His teeth flashed in the dim light of the theater. "Do you know how rare that is?"

Cleo, who was watching from her spot in the back corner, hoped they didn't come back. The boy looked like a talker.

Just a Question:

Cleo fiddled with her ponytail as she wondered how she should phrase her next question.

"Sadie…" Cleo began.

"Yuppers?" Sadie coated her thumb in bright orange nail polish.

"It's pretty unbelievable that Egyptian gods actually exist, right?"

"I still have a hard time believing it some days." Sadie agreed. "Isn't it totally awesome?" She dipped the brush back into the bottle.

"Do you ever think that maybe…" Cleo paused. "Well, I mean, if we could exist… Do you ever think that maybe we aren't the only ones out there? That maybe we aren't alone?"

"Hmmm…" Sadie thought on it. "I guess the whole 'Egyptian gods exist' puts a spin on things, but I guess I believe in aliens."

"What? No." Cleo cut to the chase. "Not extraterrestrials, Sadie. Other gods, other creatures. Greek, Roman, Norse. Other people."

For a brief moment, Sadie thought of her mother's strange words. I haven't completely lost the gift of prophecy, even in death. I see murky visions of other gods and rival magic.

But then she shook her head. "That's crazy talk. And if there's one thing I'm not, it's crazy."

Family Tree:

Percy sat in the middle of Spanish 1 at a total loss.

The assignment was to draw a family tree as far back as your grandparents and then label it in Spanish. Percy didn't know where to begin.

The freshmen next to him giggled. "You haven't even started? It's been ten minutes."

"My family's a bit complicated. And big. I need more paper."

"Wow, I always wanted a big family." She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I bet you're all really close."

Close? One of his uncles had imprisoned him in his dungeon and the other was waiting for an opportunity to fry him. People he didn't even know he was related to were gunning for him.

But Percy didn't think this was a good time to bring that up.

"We really are something."